Spells

You can equip up to three spells (at the cost of 600 gems for the third spell slot) in a battle. These spells can be unlocked and upgraded in your Wizard's Tower. There are, in essence, two types of spell categories:

All spells have to recharge until they can be used again. A spell’s cooldown may change.

A longer cooldown often means that timing is more important since a player has to wait longer until the spell can be used again. Cooldown also limits the number of times a player can use a spell during an attack. The spell with the lowest cooldown and by far the most possible uses per battle is Hammerstrike.

However, duration is also important in combination with cooldown. For example, Bladestorm has a cooldown of twelve and a duration of five seconds, so the time between two uses can be as low as seven seconds – which is the same as with Hammerstrike.

All damage spells affect their targets for the remainder of the end of the spell’s duration. The hero does not need to stay close to sustain a spell. Instead, he should move on and try to come close to (“touch”) as many enemy troops and structures as possible to get the most of out a spell. To do so it is helpful to increase the hero’s speed, which can be done by using boots with a bonus to speed.

The heal spell is the only one that needs to be sustained. Other units only heal as long as they remain within the spell’s range.

With the exception of the Firestorm spell there are actually just two ranges for spells: 2.5 for short range spells and 5.5 for long range spells. All short range spells are damage spells. Even when the hero stands still, they can reach:

Two towers at the side of the path (if the hero stands right between them)

All towers on a corner (if the hero stands in the middle of that path piece)

All blockades that “touch” each other (up to three)

A tower behind a blockade, with the exception of a firebolt tower

A firebolt tower when the hero stands at that side of the path

A firebolt tower in a corner (if the hero moves into the corner as well)

Units in a neighboring lane (if both hero and enemy are close to their respective lane borders)

Long range spells reach most things visible around the hero, often easily covering neighboring lanes. Standing directly between two tiles and at the border of the lane it is possible to hit two towers across the neighboring lane.

The Firestorm spell initially has a short range. Starting at level 12 it increases its range gradually until it reaches 5.5. This makes the spell effective against firebolt towers behind a blockage.

With these two spells it's about regeneration vs. protection. They can be used together, but since their purposes overlap players usually have to decide for one of them. The spells differ in the following aspects:

Heal becomes available much sooner and has more effective upgrades until the wizard's tower reaches level 10.

Shield is applied instantly whereas Heal is channeled over five seconds. The hero has to stay in range of troops in order to sustain the effect on them.

Shield can be applied before the damage is done. This is helpful at the start, when players gather a few troops and then shield them.

Shield hitpoints are based on resistances and weaknesses of each Unit. They are not neutral but they can be considered as an additional health.

Both spells have no further effect on a unit once their respective hit points are full: Heal won't heal a unit past its maximum hit points and Shield only restores protection to its maximum.

Since Shield adds protection on top of regular hit points, the effect is greater for some units. For example, Frosters or Arblasters with below 2,000 hit points can still get over 4,000 additional hit points through Shield.

Shield has a shorter cooldown period than Heal (14 to 13 vs. 15 seconds).

Currently, Shield is much more popular within the top 1000 players.

After Upgrading Shield to Level 8, You can unlock forging. A regeneration perk is available which makes shield a far better choice for players to use.